UnSass

Ranch Dressing General web Rancher [github] is an open-source service providing AWS-like functions. Tiny [github] is a way to build desktop JavaScript apps. There is no escape from JavaScript. Restify Seed [github] is a starting point for building a scalable, maintainable Restify  REST API (thanks Matthew!) Flynn [github] is an open-source platform as a service that can run stuff like Postgres. Pretty fancy (thanks Nadav!) Raven [github] is an early-stage text editor which has really pretty typography. Worth keeping an eye on. And here’s a guide for contributing to Ruby [blog.engineyard].

Dos and Fonts Design Apple’s Jony Ive spoke somewhere so naturally there’s a record of everything he said [josephshaffery]. Apparently you need to focus and make each product the best it can be? Sounds out-of-character for him, but whatever. A typeface isn’t a font, and other terminology grievances, addressed [fontbureau]. Meanwhile, why don’t you just let your browser handle the UI logic for you [blog.parse]? Go on.

UnSass SitePoint On SitePoint, we had a guide to handing off your Sass to someone who isn’t quite so Sassy. We also took a good look at Firefox’s new developer browser. Then we listed the 15 best JavaScript charting libraries. More than half of iOS users are using iOS 8, so it’s a great time to look at exploiting one of its new features, and creating a Today Extension Lastly, for this section at least, here’s a look at what you should look for in a WordPress theme.

AWSome News/business This is an excellent article on how GitHub communicates [ben.balter], with some great tips for all startups to take on. Amazon has launched a few new services at its re:Invent developer conference in Las Vegas. They include AWS Lambda [aws.amazon], a compute service that runs your code in response to events, managing the compute resources for you, Cloud Container Management [aws.amazon], a container service for the AWS cloud, and Aurora [aws.amazon] a cost-effective MySQL-compatible database engine for Amazon RDS. Fortune profiles Google’s Larry Page, who it hyperbolically calls the most ambitious CEO in the universe [fortune].

Rap Genius Off-topic One [one.hackplan] is a menubar app that lets you keep up with Hacker News, ProductHunt, Reddit and more. Or you could just keep reading Versioning. Whatever works. Of all the alternative iOS 8 keyboards, this is the most useful: RapKey [rapkey] will let you paste rap lyrics into your messages so you unleash your inner hip hop mogul on your friends. Weekend reading #1: An investigation of Anonymous’s activism [thenation]. Adrian Chen goes behind the mask and uncovers some naive techno-utopianism, surprises nobody. Weekend reading #2: How Will Ferrell became the most powerful internet mogul of 2014 [gq] (according to GQ, so...)